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Glite Dictionary
ensilage

ensilage

9.9
Farmers store green crops in a silo and partly ferment them to feed animals
  • noun
  • /ˈɛn.sɪ.leɪdʒ/
  • Specialized
translation icon : ensilaje
  • During the tour, we learned how ensilage is made to ensure cattle have nutritious food year-round.

Examples

  • Machines harvest the weed with the crop, so mature velvetleaf seed pods are mixed with maize ensilage.

    Academic text (1991)

  • The farmer prepared the ensilage by chopping fresh corn and storing it in a silo for winter feed.

  • The dairy farm relies on high-quality ensilage to keep its cows healthy and productive.

Synonyms

forage
vsensilage
4 4.4

Bulky food like grass or hay fed to horses and cattle

is about plant feed harvested green and fermented for storage
fodder
vsensilage
4 5.3

Food like hay or stalks that farmers give to animals

refers specifically to plant feed preserved by fermentation in a silo
silage
vsensilage
  • Specialized
2 7.9

Food made from green plants like grass or corn that is stored and fermented to feed farm animals

is the same concept but named differently in usage
feedstuff
vsensilage
  • Specialized
5.1

Food for farm animals like cows or pigs

is a narrower term for plant feed preserved by fermentation

Surface Forms

ensilage singular
ensilages plural

Morphology

ensilage = silage (semi-transparent) = en + silage

The word is analyzable as 'en-' + 'silage', but it is a technical borrowing and the prefixation is not a productive noun-forming process in everyday English, so many learners will not deduce the meaning from parts alone.

Etymology

Ensilage comes from French and means putting plants into a silo, with en- 'in' and silo a place to store grain or grass. So ensilage is the green food put into a silo and left to ferment a bit so it stays good for animals.